A historical map that shows the face of India during the British Rule. Click and check the two types of territories - red and yellow areas. The red areas in the map represents the regions that were directly under the British rule, called the British India territories. The yellow areas represents the Princely States which were ruled by local Indian rulers.
This is the place where history meets technology. The above map shows the face of pre-independent India. The map in pale red and yellow, superimposed on Google Map, shows the geographic extent of the then British Raj in India in the year 1909, showing British India in pale red and the princely states in yellow. The original source (paper format) of this map is Imperial Gazetteer Atlas of India, Plate 20. I some time back digitised these boundaries, converted into the KML format, and then overlaid it on the Google Map frame, to give the original paper format a interactive look and feel.The British Rule
The British Rule was the period from 1858 to 1947 when rulers from the Great Britain ruled the Indian subcontinent. The region under British control - commonly called India - included areas directly administered by Britain as well as the princely states ruled by individual rulers under the paramountcy of the British Crown. The region is now less commonly also called British Raj or the Indian Empire. The British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, with exceptions such as Goa and Pondicherry. In addition, at various times, it also included Lower and Upper Burma, and briefly British Somaliland, and Singapore. Burma was separated from India and directly administered by the British Crown from 1937 until its independence in 1948. The Trucial States of the Persian Gulf were theoretically princely states as well as Presidencies and provinces of British India until 1946.Among other countries in the region, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was ceded to Britain in 1802. Ceylon was part of Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798. The kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, having fought wars with the British, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British as independent states. The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a princely state after the Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1861; however, the issue of sovereignty was left undefined. The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965 but not part of British India.
India during the British Raj was made up of two types of territory: British India and the Native States (or Princely States). A Princely State, also called a Native State or an Indian State, was a nominally sovereign entity with an indigenous Indian ruler, subject to a subsidiary alliance. There were 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in August 1947. The princely states did not form a part of British India (i.e. the presidencies and provinces), as they were not directly under the British rule. Areas which were directly under the British rule are known as British India.
